Wireless communication devices and more particularly digital wireless communications systems are generally known. One type of digital communications system operates in one-way communication mode, or simplex operation. Another type of communication system operates in simultaneous two-way communication mode or in duplex operation. Current radiotelephones utilizing either of these forms of communication communicate through a central node or base station in order to communicate with other radiotelephones. This is different from devices that operate in simplex mode such as walkie-talkies that communicate directly between units without an intermediary node or base station. The walkie-talkie mode is often referred to as push-to-talk operation as the user must push and hold a button in to key up the transmitter and communicate. The walkie-talkie mode has also been incorporated into a system known as Private Land Mobile Radio Service (PLMRS) and operates in simplex mode through a base station. This type of system is also referred to as push-to-talk operation while the device is in the walkie-talkie mode.
One function of the base station type system in general is to achieve a greater distance over which communications can be achieved. Wireless communication devices that communicate directly however are generally confined to line-of-sight distances for communication. Wireless devices that operate with a base station however, do not communicate directly with other wireless communication devices in the line-of-sight operation mode.
The operation of the either duplex operating radiotelephone systems or push-to-talk form of communication over radiotelephone or cellular networks and through base stations, subjects the communications to significant audio latency. This is due in part to speech coding, the air interface transfer and synchronization delay, packet delivery latency, network latency, and the like. Although, this delay or latency is not as noticeable to the users who are not within earshot or are not within close proximity to one another, it is noticeable to those that are. When a user operates a device in a hands-free mode, and in close proximity to another device, the user of the proximate device can hear the communication directly, or in real time, from the user traveling through the air and, at the same time, through significant delay, through the base station system. Hearing the real time audio and the delayed audio from the base station makes communication difficult to understand because of the audio latency. This effect is exacerbated when there are a plurality of units in close proximity to the originating device and are all on hands-free mode. Thus, in a group call mode, audio signals from each device will reach each user at a different delay, making communication very difficult and annoying.
What is needed is a communication device that can reduce the audio latency to devices proximally located to the communication originating device.